bigreds' travels

MOVING ON.

2009-11-09T10:29:00.000-08:00

Well we have moved on to Chester, Illinois to visit my cousin and his familg. We have been here several times so not much to visit except the lock and dam on the Kaskaskia River. Water was pretty high from all the rain, but no barge action. We mostly visited and sat around campfire in yard. Went out to eat or cooked over fire with cast iron cookware. UUMM. Good eatin. After three weeks there in the front yard on 110 elec., and 4 days sunshine out of three weeks we moved on. The Mississippi river was only 1 mile away and rising fast but Chester is nigh enough up so we were ok. It overflowed on the Missouri side about a mile and covered unharvested soy beans about 15 inches. It was that way all the way ti I-40 in Arkansas and all the the way to Little Rock. We arived in Rowlett, Texas and are still here visiting our former friends and neighbors from Maryland. We are about 5 miles from lake hubbard. Beautiful lake and a huge Bass Pro Shop right on the water. We will leave wedsday and head over to Terrell, Texas when they arive back from NM.. Have to quit eating all this home cooking and dining out with friends. Until next time, Happy Trails.

WEDDING DAY

2009-10-13T10:20:00.000-07:00

Well through wind, rain and cold we made it to Chicago. After a stop at Coach-Care in Harrisburg, Pa.,for service and a few other checks we headed west. Weather was beautiful. Stopped at a Flting J on the west end of Ohio for the night and it rained all night. The next morning we headed toward Bloomington, Ind., to see our good friends Carol and Gary of chapter 51. Had a great weekend and hope you are feeling better. Also west of Columbus we passed Jim and his wife or Geeks on Tour. Headed to Chicago thru the SE corner where I grew up years ago. Neighborhood looked the same and better than when I left in "67. Took the city streets to Burr Ridge and it sure has grown up. Stayed at the hotel lot and went out with family and friends to the original UNO's for pizza. It is not part of the chain but the original. Afterwords we all went to the top of Marina towers where a friend lives to view Chicago at night. A little foggy but great view. Wedding was Terrific, lots of food and Polish fun.My niece and her husband looked great. Men wore Kilts because he was Scotch/Irish. After the ceremonies we headed to Chester, Illinois for a few weeks with faminy. CHESTER is the home of POPEYE (the sailor.)

Fall is here

2009-09-28T10:08:00.000-07:00

Well FALL is here on the mountain. After several nights of slow rain and cooler temps., the leaves are starting to fall. That means time to pack up and head SW. We leave tomorrow afternoon as our host time is up here. It has been a grand experience with everyone more than helpful. The rangers would bring us fresh corn, squash, peppers, and tomatoes of all kinds. Also fresh herbs from their gardens. I in exchange made them some of my favorite Date Bread and fresh Polish Sausage, Made 17lbs the other day in the MH. Our son visited us yesterday and we took him to COZYS' for their lunch buffet. They also have a nice historic museum of Camp David items. So its Farewell to Catoctin Mountain Park (Camp David) until next time.

Catoctin Mountain Park

2009-09-24T12:30:00.000-07:00

Lets start over. We have been here Camphosting with the NPS. It is a beautiful heavily forested park in the mountain to the west side of Thurmont, Maryland. It is also on the perimeter of Camp David. We know the PREZ., is here when we hear his helocopters. That is all anyone sees' or hears. It is very secluded and guarded. Although it can be found on Google Earth. There are 51 sites including our host site. All except ours is dry camp. There is a bath house with HOT showers 24/7. All we have to do is be the eyes and ears for the Rangers. We want to thank our good friends John & Janet Chartier for informing us of the opening. Sometimes during the week there is only us or one other camper here. It sure does get dark and quiet. Saw one black bear the first week here. He waddled across our road in front of the Motorhome. Only four more days here then off to Chicago for a Polish/Irish-Scottish wedding. Have not been to a Polish wedding since my brother got married 30 years ago. I hope to keep up this blog better from now on.

Cold and Snow

2008-06-12T10:12:00.000-07:00

Well after spending 5 days in Kaysville, Ut., at camping world for NC we are on the road again. While there we looked at a couple motorhomes but did not buy. Had 50A w/s while there. Toured the area and visited with my niece who lives and works in Layton as an engineer. It was good to see her again. We said our farewells and headed toward Jackson, Wy., via rt 89. It was one beautiful ride. Will post pics when I get program working. Arived in Jackson and it is clear to see it is a tourist town for those with $$$. We are in a NP campground just 4 miles out of town. Spent the next day slowly touring Teton NP. It is to gorgus to describe. The day was sunny and 48. The peaks were heavly snowcapped. Snow in the meadows where it was drifted before. Took lots of pics. Had our anniversary dinner in a nice cafe in town (the Virginian). Yesterday 6-11 we woke up to 1" snow covering the ground. It looked beautiful with snow flurries all day. Herds of Buffalo grazing even in the campground. Today it is clear and sunny and as we were having our coffee in the rv, JO screamed and said there was a Huge Bull Buffalo 5 yards from our window grazing. He was out there for 45 minutes. Saw our first female moose in the campground the other day. Will spend another day here due to heavy snowstorm in Yellowstone NP and the entrance gate is closed. Tomorrow is to be sunny, clear and warmer so we will make our way then. We left Yuma it was 103 and the past few nights it was 31 here By the way we have no hookups in the park, just solar. The truck is across on another site so no gen unless I run a cord across the road. Until next post, Happy Trails.

moving along

2008-06-04T09:28:00.000-07:00

Well after deleting two posts, I will try again. We are presently in Kaysville, Utah just north of SLC, at a nice Camping World with a RV dealership. We hope to get some minor repairs while here or find a MH we can afford. It is presently raining with snow on the upper peaks. We hope to sit out the rain before heading to Yellowstone. I also have a niece who lives and works here that we will visit. We spent 4 days in Mesquite, NV., at the Casa Blanca Casino in the special parking lot. We were here a couple years ago. We ate out, gambled, and played bingo. We spent 5 days in Corona, Ca., with JOs' cousin. The campground was a PA. We went to Long Beach to see how much it changed since we lived there in 1976. It is necely built up and a couple old relics and hangouts are still there. the navy base and shipyard are completly leveled. It is now a huge sea container port almost as large as the port of Los Angeles. Went across the bridge to San Pedro to have breakfast at the Gaffey St. diner that is featured on the Food channel. Great food and crowded. Had a great two hour trip from San Diego.

UPDATE

2008-05-28T11:50:00.000-07:00

on the road again

2008-05-20T09:27:00.000-07:00

Well we finally left Yuma, Az., our winter roost and headed for SanDiego. We are staying at a friendly Moose lodge. Great people and great food. Been sightseeing in town and trying to find things and places from 30 years ago. Found some still here and a lot of new places. Even my old navy ship is here and part of the fleet. Had a scare yesterday when they ahd a majoy gas explosion in the new hilton hotel under construction. We were directly across the street about 1/2 block distance. Quite scary. We will leave here tomorrow and head to Corona to visit a family member over the holiday.

Getting closer.

2008-05-09T09:43:00.000-07:00

Been under the weather for a while due to new meds. Getting better. Things are almost complete for our departure. Went for a ride up the side of the mountain with my neighbor. Had a lot of fun and learned more about the desert area. Weather is staying nice. 80-93. Been going to bingo more lately to help with finances. The indians are worse than Vegas. Made a lot of deposits but no withdrawls at the casino yet. Still trying to figure out how to post pics. I will learn soon. Have a great day in your travels.

Getting Warm

2008-04-27T16:08:00.000-07:00

Spent the past two days catching up on small projects before we leave on our journey. Went to Mexico yesterday morning with our neighbors and had a pastry at the bakery. They moved further in and are smaller now and not as tasty. Picked up a few meds and headed back across the border. Guess what? NO LINE. What a pleasure. Traffic is a breeze in Yuma now that 98% of the snowbirds are gone. Going to take the Volvo into the shop in the morning to have the AC repaired. I think we'll need it on the east coast this summer. Will post pics as soon as I learn the process. Check back often.

STARTING OVER

2008-04-25T10:54:00.000-07:00

Well its been a long winter and I am going to try to restart our blog. Today is April 25,2008 and we are still in Yuma, Arizona on our lot. The next three days are supposed to be 100. We just had both airs' fixed and we will see how they work. Our plans are to leave here for Escapade in Gillette, Wyoming in June via San Diego, Long Beach, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, The Grand Tetons, Yellowstone NP, Cody, Wy., then after Escapade head east to Assateague Nat'l Seashore NP in Maryland for Aug, Sept, & Oct., as camphosts. We are looking forward to this trip even with disel at $4.20 a gal. And our truck holds 211 gals.

2008-01-10T15:40:00.001-08:00